Broncos legend John Elway would like to make two confessions: 1) It was a no-brainer to give his quarterback job to Peyton Manning. 2) It tore up the gut of Elway to dump Tim Tebow.

"You hate some decisions you have to make in football. But that doesn't prevent you from making them," Elway said Tuesday, when he replaced Tebow with Manning. "You do what's best for your team. But that doesn't take away the heartache. You're dealing with human beings. It hurts."

As a front-office executive, Elway will forever be remembered as the bold recruiter who beat San Francisco, Tennessee and all suitors to land Manning with a $96 million contract.

But, in the process, Elway killed Tebowmania in the Rocky Mountains, an act that won't easily be forgiven if Manning fails to make Denver a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

The sense of betrayal from supporters of Tebow is a subplot of a big story that the Broncos won't be able to erase as easily as removing photographs of the young quarterback from the walls of team headquarters.

How do you tell a 9-year-old boy his football hero has been demoted by the Broncos? Do the Tebow posters on the bedroom wall come down? Is the No. 15 jersey tossed in the back of the closet? Football is not business to a kid. It's all heart. And hearts break.

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Somewhere in metro Denver, a father broke the news to his 9-year-old son. In an e-mail, an angry father who asked to be identified only by his first name explained his cynicism about the upcoming NFL season. "It will be great," Neil wrote. "Two games in and Manning will be in the hospital earning his $90 million plus, and Tebow will be in some other city taking that team to the playoffs. Let's go buy Manning's jersey, blindly worship Elway, as he knows (lies) best."

Elway is not deaf, blind or stupid. He knows and respects why fans admire Tebow. This decision to go for this dramatic shake-up was not taken lightly.

"I don't want to alienate people to the Denver Broncos. People may disagree with me," Elway said. "But the thing they need to know is it does bother me when I see these people want to run me out of town. Obviously, that bothers me a little bit. You never get used to that."

While a contract awaited his signature upstairs in the executive offices at Dove Valley, Manning stood in the hallway and stared at his shoes. The subject was Tebow. The topic was uncomfortable. He genuinely despised taking a fellow quarterback's job.

"All I can say is: I know there are great fans of the Denver Broncos. And a lot times they're fans of the quarterback. There are great reasons for them to be fans of Tim. There's what a great player he was, what a great guy he is and what he did last year," Manning said.

"I'm in the quarterback fraternity. I've hated that about all the teams I visited, whether it was Matt Hasselbeck (in Tennessee) or Alex Smith (in San Francisco). I just didn't know how to do this. But I wanted to go play somewhere else. And someone's going to have my job in Indianapolis next year. ... I wanted to go play, and I don't know there was any easy way to do this."

Peyton Manning, left, and Tim Tebow in 2010 (Getty Images file photo)

Elway and Manning understand how tough it is to hear 70,000 people boo a quarterback. There is no crying in football. But there was no joy for Manning or Elway to sack Tebow.

The score in Super Bowl rings is: Elway 2, Manning 1. While this blockbuster deal was written for five years, it's more realistic to believe a 35-year-old quarterback coming off four neck surgeries has a three-year window of opportunity. Manning told me he wants to jump through that window and grab the Lombardi Trophy one, two, maybe even three times.

Tebow disciples grouse that Elway was jealous of his Bible-quoting, miracle-making young quarterback. Well, we now have reason to dispel that myth. Elway stated his goal is to help Manning go down in league history as the greatest quarterback of all time.

Did Elway just become the second-most talented quarterback to ever wear a Broncos jersey?

"Is he ahead of me yet?" Elway said. "That is for you guys to decide."

Elway will try to trade Tebow. Not to get the circus out of town. Not because Manning would worry about billboards demanding his removal as a starter. Elway wants to do the right thing. He knows Tebow has earned the chance to become a hero in a new NFL city.

"Tim Tebow is a great kid," Elway declared. "If I want someone to marry my daughter, it would be him."

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